1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to gaming environments and more particularly to a system and method for camera navigation.
2. Description of the Background Art
Camera navigation in a gaming environment poses many challenges for game developers. Game cameras provide players with multiple views of game characters. It is important that the cameras provide a player with unobstructed views that provide clear information on a character's surrounding environment. The player uses the information provided by the multiple cameras to decide how the character responds to game situations. However, camera navigation in games can be complicated, particularly in games with twisty passages, narrow paths, and with obstacles such as trees and rocks, for example. In such games, line-of sight obstacles may frequently obscure the player's view.
Camera navigation is further complicated in action, adventure, or exploration games in which characters move quickly and in many directions. Quick character motion typically includes complex motion, such as motion of characters engaged in combat. Cameras need to be optimally positioned to enable the player to clearly see the game, and to allow the player to base character control decisions upon sensory information obtained from the multiple views. However, games that involve quick translations in camera location, quick rotations in camera orientation, or scene cuts from one camera with a given orientation to a second camera with an incongruous orientation, may disorient the player. Therefore, game designers must design camera navigation systems based on multiple constraints: physical constraints of the players and geometric constraints of the game.
It would be advantageous to implement a camera navigation system that balances the multiple constraints placed on the cameras, and provides game players with clear, non-disorienting views of game characters.